Get to Know: Tawny Ong
Interview by Nancy Moran
photo courtesy of Tawny Ong
If you're a true New York City dessert aficionado like myself, you've probably already been to all the cupcake bakeries in the city and tried all the flavors each of them has to offer. But how often do we actually get to meet one of the sweet tooth fairies (aka, the cupcake bakers) and hear their stories? Luckily, I got the chance to meet Ms. Tawny Ong - a dessert maker and a veteran baker at one of the most famous bakeries in the city who now runs her own baking company, and I immediately got hooked on her delicious Icebox cake (see picture below), and the fluffy banana pudding. So who is Tawny Ong and what can you learn from her? Read on...
Q: What is your typical day like?
One of the things I do love about my days is that there are no typical days, LOL! Each experience is exciting and an honor. One day I could be baking, another I'm catering an event, And today, I'm answering questions for Altra Magazine ; )
Q: The most memorable moment in your career so far?
One of the most memorable moments would have to be the first time I created Desserts by Tawny Ong and catered my first event. It was a baby shower and I didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, it was a blast and a hit. We displayed the desserts near the window of the venue and people were coming in from the street to take pictures of our baby shower themed cupcakes that were on vintage cupcake tiers. The rest is as they say... history.
Q: How do you deal with major obstacles and roadblocks?
I deal w/ them as they come. Just don't freak out and see each one as a learning experiences and an opportunity.
I always keep myself busy and have gigs lined up. So if one doesn't work out, it doesn't "hurt" so much because I have two back-up's to take its place.
One time, I had a PR firm in Boston contact me to do a launch for the Smythson on Bond St. Spring Collection. I baked up a storm for management team to sample, lugged a cooler with all my desserts up Fifth Avenue and left with what I thought was a done deal. I later found out that their upper management changed the theme to an English scones and tea party. So what I did was recommending other dessert bakeries that I thought would best suit their needs, as well as catering companies that could help with the supplies to support their theme. In the end, each worker in that retail store became a client of mine as well as wonderful referrals to their friends and family. So even though I didn't get the "gig", I ended up with a wonderful relationship with a PR firm in Boston and current friends and clients! I never see obstacles, just opportunities for amazing experiences and to meet wonderful people along the way.
Q: Where do you see yourself in Five years?
In five years, I hope to still be enjoying what I am doing now; only on a much greater scale. Currently I am looking for a "home" for my bakery, but will continue to cater events. There are a couple other things I have planned, but we'll just have to stay tuned.
Q: Last minute advice to other entrepreneurs?
Ask yourself "why not me?" Know your strengths and believe in yourself that you can achieve your goals, and don't forget to have fun while your at it.
Lastly, thank you! And "Live life one cupcake at a time" : )
Check out Tawny's desserts at www.tawnyong.com
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By Saymoukda Vongsay
In Asian American literature, Bryan Thao Worra's name often comes up as a key voice among Lao American perspectives. Living in Minneapolis, Thao Worra is the award-winning author of several books of poetry including On the Other Side of the Eye, Tanon Sai Jai, Winter Ink, and The Tuk Tuk Diaries: My Dinner With Cluster Bombs. He became the first Lao American to ever receive the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature for poetry. He was selected out over 1,000 applicants and is one of less than 50 who received it this year. He also received Minnesota's 2009 Asian Pacific Leadership Award for Excellence in the Arts, and is releasing an all-new book of poetry this Fall.
I got the chance to sit down and chat with Bryan for the first time and was immediately taken by the fact that not only is he extremely humble, but is also as real and down to earth as anyone who is aspired to become successful in life.
Q: I read that you started writing when you were very young?
Yes. I was always writing as a young child, or reading, or telling stories. I'm gabby as hell. But writing gets me quiet. For a while.
Q: You've been quite successful as a writer. What made you choose writing as your career?
I wouldn't say "career," because it's so much a way of life, of being for me. Something I would do even if I wasn't paid for it. I just happened to persist at it over the years.
Q: The media mentions your education often. You weren't an English major, you don't have an MFA. Yet over 17 years you've been writing and before you even turned 40, your work is now taught in classrooms and international college textbooks. What do you think of that?
I keep humble about that. I'm passionate about what I do. I respect others who've studied like that. But to me, writers write. We get our work out there. Sometimes we get published. More times we don't, but we keep resilient. We bounce back, even when discouraged.
Q: Your new collection, BARROW, is very deep, much like your 2007 collection, On The Other Side Of The Eye, tell me about it.
I'm really trying my hand at new things, new approaches, new techniques. I want to grow as a writer, and it's only by experimenting that we get there. But I think a lot of my readers will appreciate that that's a journey we can take together.
is a very heavy influence of religion and philosophy in your poetry...
Yes. There's also an influence of science fiction, history, science, punk rock, art and geography too. I like to reconnect many ideas with my work, in ways that give us new ways to talk about things.
Q: You're of Lao descent and were adopted, right? Is your family supportive of all this?
Yes. I was born in Vientiane, Laos in 1973 and was adopted in 1973 as an infant by an American pilot and have been living in the US ever since. Honestly, I don't know if my mom and family really quite understand what I really do for a living. But that's the case for many people, isn't it? But they know I'm happy, and whatever I do for a job lets me come home to visit them, so they're happy too.
Q: Do you feel like any of your heritage comes through in your writing?
I think there's a lively thoughtfulness and energy to my work. I find inspiration from everything. All cultures. I love Vientiane and Minneapolis, Paris and New York. I can find great joy as easily in San Francisco and the stories of the Bay as the winding roads of Tennessee with the Royal Lao Classical Dancers and Lao community activists resettled there.
Q: I notice that your books of poems always have Lao imagery on them. Is that important to you?
I'm not shy about where I'm from, and there's much to share with the world. I'm about trying new things and I encourage my cover artists to engage with Lao culture. My readers around the world appreciate that, so I don't see a reason to stop.
Q: Your advice for aspiring writers?
All advice ultimately boils down to pursuit of personal experience, personal excellence. Now, I just encourage people to treasure their own stories within themselves. Find your own voice, and don't worry about sounding like Maxine Hong Kingston or Amy Tan. We have an Amy Tan already. The world needs a writer who sounds like -you-. Commit to that.